The Great Sanitation
The Great Sanitation (also known as the Bombings or the Blitz) was a yearlong campaign by the American government to rid their country of all those outside of verified communities who refused the Cure. Even though the government claimed for the longest time that the campaign was a complete success, most people within verified communities knew otherwise. Background Many decades before the beginning of Delirium, the government of America identified love as a disease. They invented a Cure and bordered the communities that agreed to this concept and followed the new government. However, there were other communities, towns, and cities which disagreed with this way of thinking and wanted no borders and no Cure. The government and verified communities saw these places as dangerous and sought to do away with them completely. Bombings A yearlong campaign began, sometime around the birth of Annabel Haloway where pilots flew over the dangerous termed communities and bombed them so that nothing remained outside of the verified communities. As new reports within the verified communities were heavily censored, all anyone knew or understood was that the danger was gone. Most images and film just showed pilots waving at the cameras and bombs being dropped and there was only the feeling of relief and safety. This, however, did not show the true extent of what happened. Lena Haloway eventually realizes that although it is never talked about, real people died during the bombings. As there was no warning to the bombs being dropped, most would have had no time to run and those that did would have to fight the panicking crowds. Only a few would escape to survive. Aftermath Although it's not known how many died, the casualties were most likely enormous. Annabel mentions that for years after the blitz, ash would come in with the wind and sting to the touch. The destroyed remains of towns and cities eventually were encroached by wilderness and everything that was not within a verified communitiy came to be known as the Wilds. The government always reported that there were no survivors of the blitz and that the only thing that remained outside of approved communities was wilderness. However most citizens were aware to some extent that people survived the blitz and made their home in the Wilds, scavenging whatever remained of the bombed towns. These people came to be known as Invalids. Ironically, the government only recognized the existence of Invalids when their own communities were bombed during the Incidents. Excerpts and Related Media * Mary bring out your umbrella- The sun shines down on this fine, fine day But the ashes raining down forever Are going to turn your hair to gray. Mary keep your oars a-steady Sail away on the rising flood Keep your candle at the ready Red tides can't be told from blood. - "Miss Mary" (a common child's clapping game, dating from the time of the blitz), from Pattycake and Beyond: A History of Play * Think of it this way: When it's cold outside and your teeth are chattering, you bundle up in a winter coat, and scarves, and mittens, to keep from catching the flu. Well, the borders are like hats and scarves and winter coats for the whole country! They keep the very worst disease away, so we can all stay healthy! After the borders went up, the president and the Consortium had one last thing to take care of before we could all be safe and happy. The Great Sanitation* (sometimes called "the blitz") lasted less than a month, but afterward all the wild spaces were cleared of disease. We went in there with some old-fashioned elbow grease and scrubbed the problem spots away, just like when your mom wipes the kitchen counters down with a sponge, easy as one, two, three... *Sanitation 1. The application of sanitary measures for the sake of cleanliness or protecting health 2. The disposal of sewage and waste - Excerpt from Dr. Richard's History Primer for Children, Chapter One Category:Miscellaneous Category:Events Category:Facts Category:Vocabulary